


Mutual Saviors

by Thieving_Bubbles



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Brotherly Love, Depressed Uzumaki Naruto, F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Kid Haruno Sakura, Kid Uzumaki Naruto, NaruSaku - Freeform, Naruto meets Sakura as a kid, Pre-Naruto Canon Era, Pre-academy Naruto, Protective Hatake Kakashi, Sakura's Forehead, Uzumaki Naruto is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 09:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30103773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thieving_Bubbles/pseuds/Thieving_Bubbles
Summary: Naruto was five and a half years old when he saw a pink-haired girl being bullied. He went to defend her, and his life was changed forever.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Mutual Saviors

5-year-old Naruto Uzumaki wasn't feeling very good.

Sure, he'd been allowed to eat at a nice stand called Ichiraku's, and fallen in love with the miso ramen. He'd also not been treated as harshly as he was in his old neighborhood, since he was moved into a new apartment.

But he still felt alone. As if no one understood him, and people hated him for something he couldn't control. He'd felt this way his whole life; since he was abused in the orphanage, since he'd gotten kicked out, since he was beat up that same day, since his ANBU guards faltered every now and then (thankfully a very rare occasion), and since his last apartment was arsoned, Naruto had become a quiet, reserved, depressed kid.

To try and get out of his daily slump, Naruto decided to take a nice walk in the park - spring was a great time for this. Naruto felt the villagers' glares, and their whispers of things like _"Monster"_ as he passed by. He quickened his pace, not wanting to hear any more of this, walking deeper into the park. As he walked deeper in, he heard the faint sound of someone crying. He looked around, and drew himself towards the sound in order to investigate.

At the base of a tree, a few yards away, was a little girl, with pink hair and the most charming forehead Naruto had ever seen. She was surrounded by a few boys and girls her age, who were standing and looking down at her. Naruto already had a bad feeling about this. It was a familiar scene for himself, as he'd often found himself in the same position as that girl before. The pink-haired girl pleaded, "Please, stop, don't bully me..." between her tears.

Naruto had had enough of seeing this. He had been bullied before, and he knew what kind of Hell it was to be ganged up on with no one to help, so right then and there, he decided that he wouldn't let anyone else suffer like he did. Not if he could help it.

Naruto ran up to the group of kids. Once he was a few feet away, he yelled, "Stop that right now!". The pinkette looked up in shock, revealing her bright green eyes, and the bullies eyed Naruto for a second. They looked at each other, then just laughed at him, and continued poking the pinkette's forehead. One of the girls even taunted her and called her "Fivehead!". So, Naruto furiously shoved his way through the bullies and stood in front of the bullied girl, as if he was her guardian. "I said, STOP.".

The bullies didn't take kindly to this. This kid had some real guts. One of the bullies promptly kneed Naruto in the gut. Naruto doubled over in pain and fell to his knees, looking up to the bullies with an angry look he hadn't given anyone before.

The bullies then decided that they'd had their fun and had gotten bored; they just walked away.

The pink-haired girl slowly rose from the tree, wiped her tears, and asked Naruto as she checked on him, "What's your name?", to which Naruto responded after looking back at her, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, what's your name?".

"S-Sakura Haruno... Why did you help me, Naruto?". She offered her hand, and Naruto accepted, pulling himself up with her help.

Once Naruto stood up, he told the girl. "You were getting bullied, y'know, I couldn't let them do that to you."

Sakura appreciated it, and felt her heart flutter, but then she sank a little, holding her forehead. "But my forehead's massive, and, and ugly..", Sakura timidly replied.

Naruto said, "It is pretty big...".

At that moment, Sakura almost felt her little heart shatter. She'd been getting bullied because of her forehead constantly, and now the very person who stopped the bullying was going to continue it? She whimpered, and she almost began to cry, until she heard the boy say:

"But it's beautiful!". Naruto wore a big smile on his face.

Sakura was confused. She looked back at Naruto. "H-huh? Could you say that again?".

Naruto said it again, emphasizing the last word. "Your forehead is beautiful.".

Sakura could scarcely believe it - the boy seriously believed that her forehead was beautiful! She actually cried this time, but now they were tears of joy. She wrapper her arms around Naruto and hugged hugged him tight; "Thank you so much, no one's ever complimented my forehead before!", she told him, as she jumped in joy.

Naruto, having never had a hug before, was taken back by the sudden contact. He'd seen other kids do this with their parents before, though, so he figured he would react the same way they did. He slowly returned the hug, and was elated when Sakura made no effort to run away from him. Naruto now let a smile take over his face, as he enjoyed the warmth of the hug.

Eventually, they broke off the hug, and Naruto twiddled with his fingers as he bashfully asked, "So... Do you wanna play in the sandbox? With me?". He looked up at Sakura with hopeful eyes, praying that she'd say yes.

Sakura smiled, told him "Of course I will!", then grabbed his hand and led him to the sandbox. They played in the box for a few minutes, making sand castles and knocking them down. For the first time in his short life, Naruto felt true, unadulterated, happiness.

Eventually, however, two adults came and stopped by the sandbox. Naruto immediately tensed up - he didn't know if he could trust these adults, the only ones who'd been kind to him so far were his ANBU protectors, Hiruzen, and some people to whom Naruto had been introduced to by Hiruzen.

The adults were a tall, lean man with pink hair, and a woman with straight bangs. They looked at Naruto and smiled. The woman told the man, "Look, Kizashi, Sakura's made a friend!". Kizashi laughed, "Sure looks like it!". As Sakura got up and began talking to the woman, the man leaned down to get to eye-level with Naruto. Naruto didn't know if he should stay or run away from him, because although the adults hadn't hurt him, that also meant that they hadn't hurt him yet. Naruto wondered if they would turn against him, like so many others had before.

Kizashi asked Naruto, "What's your name?". Naruto nervously answered, "I'm Naruto... Uzumaki.".

Kizashi held his hand out, making a gesture that Naruto recognized from some of Hiruzen's associates. Naruto held out his own hand, grabbed Kizashi's hand, and shook it. Kizashi told him, "I'm glad to have met you, Naruto. I hope I'll be seeing more of you in the future!". After that, Kizashi backed off and returned to his wife.

Sakura walked back towards Naruto and told him, "I have to go home now, Naruto, see you later!".

Naruto said, "Bye, Sakura!", and watched as she walked away with her family.

* * *

Kakashi Hatake (in his ANBU Inu garbs) was hiding in a tree in the park when he witnessed Naruto defend Sakura, and get kneed by one of the bullies. He decided to not step in, though, since the bullies had gone away right after. Instead, Kakashi grinned wildly behind his masks as his surrogate little brother built a bond with the pink-haired girl, conversing with her and then playing with her in the sandbox.

Kakashi, just like Naruto, tensed up a bit when the girl's parents arrived, but was put at ease when the couple were actually being nice to Naruto. Kakashi smiled when he saw the girl say something to Naruto again before walking away, and the smile remained on Naruto's face as well.

Naruto watched the girl walking away, feeling nothing but gladness at having met her. As soon as the girl was out of sight, Naruto swiveled his head around, looking for Inu, and stopped when his eyes met his target. Naruto waddled toward the man, calling out, "Inu, Inu, I have a friend now!".

Kakashi leapt out of his hiding spot and landed gracefully in front of Naruto, ruffling the blonde's hair. He responded, "I know, I saw! What's her name?".

Naruto answered, "Her name is Sakura Haruno!".

By now, Kakashi had figured out how to get Naruto talking. He discovered that the boy didn't really speak unless he was spoken to, so one trick he'd learned was to make a vague statement relevant to something that Naruto was talking about, then letting the boy elaborate on his own.

Hence, Kakashi chuckled and replied, "She seems nice.".

Naruto averred, "Uh-huh, and she's really pretty, too! Her face is pretty and her hair is pretty and her forehead's pretty too!".

Kakashi inquired, "Her... forehead?".

Naruto slapped his own forehead and responded, "Oh, you couldn't see her forehead since you were far! Well," he spread out his arms, "it's wide, and-and it's charming!".

Kakashi's once-cold heart had been thawed by Naruto long ago, and now, it was warming up even more as the boy displayed utmost joy. Kakashi had seen the boy happy before, sure, but nothing quite like this. It was as if this new happiness was something to last, rather than the very temporary happiness Naruto got from certain occasions, such as, eating ramen at Ichiraku's.

As Kakashi continued monitoring Naruto over the years, he noticed that ever since meeting Sakura, the boy had become much happier in general, and was even more willing to show everyone else the real him; the outgoing, kind, happy-go-lucky, intelligent, clever funny guy.

* * *

_Years later_

The young adult now known as Naruto Namikaze laid in bed with his four-months pregnant wife, now known as Sakura Namikaze.

The morning sun was shining brightly into their room, and he was playing with her hair, admiring her as she rested her head on his chest. Not only was she exceptionally beautiful, Naruto had seen firsthand how strong she was - in body and mind. He smiled as he remembered all the great things she'd done, and the things she'd done with him, that earned them the title of Konoha's greatest power couple.

He momentarily lifted his hand from her head when she began to stir. She rolled ever-so-slightly on each side before slowly opening her eyes and waking up.

Smiling and looking up at Naruto, Sakura asked, "How long have you been awake?".

Naruto grabbed Sakura by the underarms and helped her to get eye-level with himself. He answered, "Just a few minutes, y'know.".

He leaned in and gave Sakura a soft kiss on the forehead. After he pulled back, he remarked, "You really do have a wide and charming forehead.".

Sakura giggled a bit and told him, "You know I love it when you say that...".

Naruto responded, "That's part of why I always say it!".

After that, Naruto and Sakura clasped their hands together, intertwining their fingers. The couple laid in silence for a few minutes, just gazing into each other's eyes.

Eventually, Naruto asked, "Remember how we met?".

Sakura told him, "Of course I do. How could I forget? That was the first time you saved me, y'know."

Naruto questioned, "What do you mean?".

Sakura replied, "I used to feel so insecure about my forehead before you came along. After you said it's beautiful, I began to take pride in it.". Naruto grinned at her words, and responded in kind. "That was the first of many times that you saved me, too. I used to be so lonely all the time before you became my friend, and, continued to be my friend."

Sakura's smile got bigger, and Naruto saw that she was about to speak again, but then her eyes widened and she smiled wildly. She let go of his hand and grabbed grabbed his arm. Sakura guided his arm to her stomach. Naruto chuckled and asked, "What's up?". Sakura just shushed him and put a finger to his lips. "Can you feel it?".

Naruto was a bit confused, but he waited patiently. A few seconds later, Naruto felt a thump in his wife's belly. His eyes displayed his joy and he exclaimed, "The baby's kicking!". Sakura squealed, "I know!". Naruto kissed her forehead again and said, "You're awesome you're awesome you're awesome!". It really did amaze Naruto that his wife could grow an entire human being inside of her. At one point, he'd even told her that it was "akin to a superpower, or something".

The couple laid there in delight, daydreaming about what life would be like once their little bundle of joy had come into the world. They excitedly longed to hold him, feed him, hear the _pitter-patter_ of his little feet, his first words...

Naruto chuckled a bit, and rubbed Sakura's belly. When the baby kicked again, the young man asked, "Do you think he'll have your charming forehead?".


End file.
